Feeding device for knitting-machines.



No. 892,663. y PATENTED JULY 7, 1908.

J. D. EEMEEILL.

EEEDING DEVICE EOE KNITTING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 30. 1905.

' Illllllll.

llll/l//l UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

`IOSHUA D. HEMPHILL, OF PAWTUCKET, RHODE ISLAND, ASSIGNOR TO MAYO KNITTING MACHINE AND NEEDLE COMPANY, OF FRANKLIN FALLS, NEW HAMPSHIRE, A COR- PORATION OF NEW HAMPSHIRE.

FEEDING DEVICE FOR KNITTING-MACHINES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented .my 7, 190s.

Application'led June 3 0, 1905. Serial No. 267,819.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOSHUA D. HEMBH'iLL, a citizen of the United States, residing. in Pawtucket, county of Providence, and State of Rhode Island, have invented an Improvement in Feeding Devices for Knitting-Machines, of which the following description, in

connection with the accompanying drawings,

is a specification, like letters on the drawings vided with the yarn guideis ivotally sup- 'be knit.

ported at one side ofthe nee le cylinder 1n the usual manner, and is acted upon by a vspring tending to throw the latch guard ring up from its normal positioniar enough .to cause the yarn guide to cease to deliver the Yarn to the hooks of the needles, said spring pressed latch guard ring being provided with a latch or holding device which normally fastens the same in the horizontal or working position in-which the yarn guide delivers the yarn to the hooks of the needles properly to Means are also rovided for operating the latch or holding evice for the latch guard ring so as to disengage or release the atter at a redeterniined point in the knittinor operatlon governed by the usual, ycontrolling cam and pattern mechanism' which governs the. changes in control of the needles required at the dilferent points in the knitting of the stocking. Thus, when the final course of a completed stockinr has been knit, the locking device of the lato-zh guard ring is tripped, and the said rirg is thrown by `its spring into osition to cause the yarn guide to cease to c eliver yarn to the needles which, in their next round of operation, run ofi the iinished Work. The machine may then be stopped by the operator, or by the usual device in plan.

pared forkthe knitting of the next stocking, after which the latch 'guard rin is returned to working position and 'engage by its holding latch,l and the machine is set in operation. The 4operation may then be continuous and automatically controlled up to the point where the stocking is 'completed when the latch guard ring is automaticallytripped to cause the work to be Irun ofi, as betore expleined.`

Figurel is 4a side elevation showing a sufiicient ortion of a knitting machine to illustrate tie present invention; and Fig. 2 is a detail showing the latch and its controlling The invention is shown as embodied in a knitting machine of the kind shown lin Patent No. 629,503, anted to me July 25, 1899, but may be app ied to other knitting machines of similar character'wherein the cam cylinder ,or c carrier is provided with a latch guard rilg normally standing above lthe top of the needle cylinder, and carrying the yarn guide through which' the yarn is delivered to the needles as the knitting proceeds.

' For an understandin of a complete machine in connection witli which the present invention Imay be employed, reference may be had to my former patent No. 629,503, above mentioned, the reference characters herein used being the same, so far as prac tic'able, as those employed for like parts in said former patent. The latch guard ring 134, carrying the yarn guide or guides 140, is connected with an arm or lever 135, pivoted at136 on a standard 133 on the cam carrier .70 for the knitting cams, 'at one side of the automatic stop mechanism, and properly prel needle cylinder, and the end of the said level` 135, at the opposite side of the needle cylinder normally rests upon a standard Yl0() on the cam carrier at the other side ofthe needle cylinder. .v

In accordance with the present invention, the latch ring arm 135', near its pivoted end, is constructed as shown 'at 230 to be acted upon by a s ring 231 which tends, by its press'urrn t ie portion 230 of the lever 135 to throw the said lever from its horizontal Working position, shown in full linea to a slightly inclined position, as shown in dotted lines, Fig. 1, while said spring permits the lever 135 to be turned to an approximately vertical position for affording access to the needles, or tothe horizontal Working position shown' in full lines, F ig. 1. l

ln order to retain the latch guard ring in normal or Working position, in which the yarn guide 140 delivers the yarn to the needles so as to be knit into the work, a holding device, shown as a spring latch 232, is provided, arranged to engage with a projection 233 on the lever 135 of the latch guard ring near the supporting upright 100.` The said holding device 232 is pivotally supg5 knitting @am carrier Til.y ",llie nain 290 thus g ported at 234 on the upright 100, and. is acted upon by a spring 235 tending to throw the. holding ldevice into engagement with the projection 233 and to retain it there when the latch guard ring is placed in horizontal position by the o erator.

` I t will be seen t at pressure on the end 236 of the latch 232 sulicient to move it inward towards the cam cylinder will cause the latch to disengage the projection 233 and release the latch guard ring, which will then be raised by the spring 231 and remove the yarn from the reach of the needles. The latch 232 is autmnatically operated to release the latch guard ring when the stocking is inished by mechanism controlled. by the cam disk 171 on the shaft 30, which cam shaft and disk make one complete rotation for each stocking or unit ol product of the machine, being adi aneed from time to time to eii'ect the proper changes" in the knitting cams and driving mechanism after the desired number of course s have been knit with the knitting cams and cooperating parts in thev position determined by said cam shaft before its advaneev movement is made. ln the movement olf the cam disk 171, which takes place when a stocking is completed, a depression 271 in the cam surface which controls the lever 189 permits the said lever to drop to a e lower position than any occupied during the knitting of the stocking. The said lever 189 is pivoted on the frame at 190, and is provided' with an arm 289 which extends up to approximately the level of the knitting cam carrier 7 O of the machine, and is provided at its u per end With a trip cam 290 (see Fig, 2) whic 1 stands at the side of tlie cam carrier 7() and at the level of the end 236 of the latch 232 for the latch guard ring 134.

As before stated. the depression. 271 in th'L controllingv cam 171 permits the end of thel lever 189 resting on said cam to occupy a lower position than any which it has during l the knitting of the slockingmnd ily also causes the trip can] 29o tao be moved radially inl Ward towards the axis ol'` the cam cjyflimler'lo sur-,l1 position that the end of .the said cui.; 29() engages Lli'c end 236 of thelalr-,h 232 when j the latter comes around inv tl `rotation o1 the l presses the end 236 of the latch inward, thus disengaging the latch Jfrom the projection 233 of the latch guard ring which is then thrown by the s ring `231 to the position shown in dotted ines,` Fig. 1, thus carrying the yarn guide 140 to such position that the yarn is no longer laid into the hooks of the needles, so that in the following rotation of the cam carrier the needles cast oif the last course of stitches, and the iinished stocking is thus entirely disengaged from the needles. I

During the operation of the knitting machine after the latch guard ring yhas been-thus released, the cam disk 171 is again advanced and raises the lever 189 and moves the cam 290 radially outward far enough to clear the end 236 of the latch, so that when the latch guard ring is subsequently moved down b the operator and engaged by the vlatch 232, it will be retained in working position until the cam disk 171 has made another full rotation corresponding tothe com letion of another stocking and brought t e depression 271 in the cam surface to position again to act upon the lever 189. After the work has been run off by the tripping of the latch 232, as above described, the machine may be stopped in any usual manner as, for example, by appliances operated by the cam shaft 30, as described in Patent No. 629,503 and may, thereafter, be preparedfor knitting another stocking and started in any suitable way as, for example, in the way described in the said Patent N o. 629,503. In said Patent No. 629,503, the lever 189 is. employed to raise and lower the needle cylinder slightly during the knitting operation to control the length of the stitches as determined by the surface of the cam 171, and inasmuch as its operating movements do not require that it be 105 placed in such position as to cause the cam 29() to act upon the latch 232, the same lever, in connection with the de ression 271 in the cam disk 171, may be emp oyed as a part of the mechanism for controlling the opera- 110 tion of the latch 232, althou h it obviously is not material that the samelever should be employed to 'control the latch, that is employed for controlling the position of the needle cylinder, during the knitting operation. 115 The downward movement ci the lever 189 to cause the trip cam 29() to. operate the latch 232 does not ail'ect the height of the needle cylinder, as the latter is otherwise supported in its lowest position, and the lever 189 120 serves merely to raise the needle cylinder from its lowest position when the said lever 189 encounters the elevated or ,fiojecting portions of the cam disk 171.

The al'iplianccs forming the subject of the 125 present invention effect a saving in time on the part of the operator which would otherwise be required in removing the yarn from he path 'o1' the needles and turning the machine by handto run oil' the previously in- -130 machine on the lot ' ished work scribed.

preparatory to transferring a ribbed cuff to the mac e and starting the alms'.

guard ring at a predetermined time in the op# eration of th e machine, substantially as de- 2. The combination of the latch guardk ring having a pivo'tal'support at yone side of the needle cylinder; with a spring tending'to turn the same about its ivotal su port to non Working position; a' atch to i old the ring in working position' a controlling cam shaftfor governin the c anges in the knitting operation; an a trip for said 4latch called into action by said controlling cam shaft, substantially as and :ForV the purpose de soribed. In testimony whereof, I have signed m name to this specification in the presence of two su bsoribing'witnesses.

JOSHUA D. HEMPHILL. Witnesses ALEX. D. SAL1NGER, I JEROME HAHN. 

